Texas Holdem Flop Philosophy Č First we need to define what Texas Holdem Flop is. Everyone saw the flop in the last hand. It’s the thing you hope for, the thing you hope would be the best hand, the way your would%) It doesn’t make any difference what cards came for it or not, none of that makes your hand better or worse. The hand it exactly what it is, a starting hand of five cards with one more. Depending on how the table is playing, you can make a few plays with the Texas Holdem Flop. Sometimes you will hit pure gold with bottom pair, sometimes you will get sucked out on and lose to anyone with any setup.
But first things first! What is your position in the round of betting? If you have spots 1-4 you are immediately to the left of the big blind, also know as under the gun. Sometimes you will have call spots after you are already in the hand, like when everyone checks to you you can bet $1, 2, 3, 4 whatever you feel like at that moment, also known as just “rookie”. You can’t raise in this position but you can fold. So if someone did a thing like raise NL $1,000 to $1,000,000 no problem, someone can call just for the sake of $1,000,000. I like to raise that $1,000,000 with position when I have spots 1-4. Spot 5 is OK too, but 6 is a little aggressive, and 8 is a little more obnoxious. But there is a lot of money to be made in 10-15nl no limit holdem. As long as you can handle aggressive tables, here is hoping you at least have some knowledge of playing NL Hold’em against loose players. It does not matter what cards you play, you should know what loose or tight players have their game facing you.
If you are playing against a loose-aggressive player you will want at least solid cards. You want to play enough cards that when you have a monster all the other players will run for cover. You want to give themNow lets say you missed the flop and you have a bunch of losers chasing the draw. You have gathered $3000 in blinds and still have $800 to your name. Blinds are $0.20-$0.40 on tournament and $1,000-$1,000 no limit. Your position is table captain of the table. You can do this because you are in charge of raising the large blind which is typically $0.50-$1.00. In this position you can easily take the blinds in two hands or so. Playing for example $1/$2 blinds not only does not win you anything, but you can’t take the blinds away and will have to live with the blinds be nice if you try to take them.
Last hand in the movie Texas Hold ‘Em, which I quote from the movie “Dewapoker” which is about the MIT students who won a big pot at a tournament, played loose-aggressive and got suckered out on the river by three drifters. This film quote actually happened to me. I was in the big blind with pockets Q-7 and the action folded to me. I had a hard 17 and called an under the gun bet pre-flop raise of $1.50. On the flop, I hit the flush and the guy next to me bets $5.5. With the flush draw, I have better odds than he does, obviously I fold. But he calls, I re-raise to $10.25. He folds and I take the pot and a shot at the progressive.
Lets turn our attention to tournaments and how you should play in a Sit and Go. In the first ten rounds there is generally a rebuy period when you if you bust out, you can rebuy, you don’t risk losing your chips any longer. In the early stages Sit and Go’s you should be raising with any hands that have the potential to win the hand. You will be lucky if you pull a hand such as two-pair or better. Your opponents will be too pre-occupied with their hand to pay you off. I like to enter a pot against a player like this. You give him a signal if you hit the flop, and if you make a continuation bet, he will fold if he has nothing, unless he has a monster.
As the blinds go up and against other tight players, you can get away with more and more aggressive plays. They will be too scared to call you, because they just won a big pot. Now your aggressiveness can get them to fold their hand. You are really playing your cards, and your opponents will respect that.